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Sunbiz1

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Cubs are experiencing what the playoffs will be, an off-schedule, against solid teams, with little rest.

While I hope for the best, only the manager has the experience...that will change.
 

willycat

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Baez will see more time on the diamond then Castro, simply because Maddon loves his D and his offensive numbers are just a plus. Really don't see much in LaStella and Coughlin is a liability at 2b. Who would have thought that we would be wishing for the defense of Soler.
 

Chief Walking Stick

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If the Cubs could go back to how they were playing in early August, that would be greaaaaaat.
 

CRM 114

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Cubs need to get this thing back on track. A win today would help. Can't end this trip going 1-5.
 

FrankieLyrical

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Depending on how long Soler is out, I can see Baez at 3B and Bryant in RF for awhile
 

Parade_Rain

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Admittedly I'm more down on Baez than most but I don't really see him as the easy offense some apparently do. I mean just as a objective counter point the 3 big rookies(Schwarber Bryant and Russell) were a combined 2 for 10 with 4 K's and a walk last night. The night before Schwarber didn't play but Russell and Bryant were 0 for 7 with 6 K's. The night before that they were 1 for 11 with 6 K's. So that's what 3 for their last 28 with a walk and 16 K's? The question I'd ask is why Baez would be any better than them? All 3 have shown more at the major league level than he has and yet they obviously not hitting the past few games.

To be blunt, I think it's far more likely that Castro rediscovers the ability to hit than Baez making a huge impact and clearly the cubs have a vested interest in Castro figuring things out whether or not he's in their plans for next year or not. Plus Castro has been.... better.... don't really want to say good here.... in August hitting .274/.297/.403 which other than his red hot start to the season has been far and away his best month this year. He's also been making better contact with 65% medium contact and 17.5% hard according to fangraphs in August which is a fairly significant rise of about 8% over June/July's rates in terms of boost to those two areas. His .ISO in August is also up to .129 which is creeping toward the .146 he had last year and is above his career marks of .119. That's not to say things are prefect for Castro. He's still only walking at like a 3% clip in August which has been a trend most of the year but he has countered that some by striking out less at 7.8%.

I honestly just don't see Maddon throwing Baez out there daily for the 100-150 PAs left in the season. I'd imagine he'd play the match ups with Castro and La Stella seeing more time and Baez being a bat off the bench. I've argued this for awhile but the problem with having talented rookies is they are feast or famine most of the time and I see no reason to believe Baez would be any different. When the cubs were going good through that 25 game stretch recently the rookies were playing well particularly Schwarber and Russell. The past 3 games all 3 have obviously given the team nothing. If anything I feel like adding Baez as an every day player right now would just magnify that issue.
Right now the team needs an energy boost similar to what Schwarber gave when he got called up. Obviously the book is out on Schwarber. Your known negativity toward Baez aside, he is the available answer to Soler missing from the lineup.
 

SilenceS

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Admittedly I'm more down on Baez than most but I don't really see him as the easy offense some apparently do. I mean just as a objective counter point the 3 big rookies(Schwarber Bryant and Russell) were a combined 2 for 10 with 4 K's and a walk last night. The night before Schwarber didn't play but Russell and Bryant were 0 for 7 with 6 K's. The night before that they were 1 for 11 with 6 K's. So that's what 3 for their last 28 with a walk and 16 K's? The question I'd ask is why Baez would be any better than them? All 3 have shown more at the major league level than he has and yet they obviously not hitting the past few games.

To be blunt, I think it's far more likely that Castro rediscovers the ability to hit than Baez making a huge impact and clearly the cubs have a vested interest in Castro figuring things out whether or not he's in their plans for next year or not. Plus Castro has been.... better.... don't really want to say good here.... in August hitting .274/.297/.403 which other than his red hot start to the season has been far and away his best month this year. He's also been making better contact with 65% medium contact and 17.5% hard according to fangraphs in August which is a fairly significant rise of about 8% over June/July's rates in terms of boost to those two areas. His .ISO in August is also up to .129 which is creeping toward the .146 he had last year and is above his career marks of .119. That's not to say things are prefect for Castro. He's still only walking at like a 3% clip in August which has been a trend most of the year but he has countered that some by striking out less at 7.8%.

I honestly just don't see Maddon throwing Baez out there daily for the 100-150 PAs left in the season. I'd imagine he'd play the match ups with Castro and La Stella seeing more time and Baez being a bat off the bench. I've argued this for awhile but the problem with having talented rookies is they are feast or famine most of the time and I see no reason to believe Baez would be any different. When the cubs were going good through that 25 game stretch recently the rookies were playing well particularly Schwarber and Russell. The past 3 games all 3 have obviously given the team nothing. If anything I feel like adding Baez as an every day player right now would just magnify that issue.

We know
 

beckdawg

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Right now the team needs an energy boost similar to what Schwarber gave when he got called up. Obviously the book is out on Schwarber. Your known negativity toward Baez aside, he is the available answer to Soler missing from the lineup.

I mean it's only a boost if he hits other wise he's no different than what they have. And while it's entirely plausible I'm too negative on Baez, the cubs haven't called him up. They didn't hesitate to call up Russell and Bryant to start the year. I'd argue they didn't really hesitate on Schwarber either as a hitter it's just they wanted him to have every shot to catch. So my opinions aside, there's clearly a difference in how they are presently handling Baez. Guess what I'm saying is if he's the answer there's been any of number of chances for them to call him up and they haven't yet. Why wait until literally the day prior to when playoff eligibility ends?
 

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I mean it's only a boost if he hits other wise he's no different than what they have. And while it's entirely plausible I'm too negative on Baez, the cubs haven't called him up. They didn't hesitate to call up Russell and Bryant to start the year. I'd argue they didn't really hesitate on Schwarber either as a hitter it's just they wanted him to have every shot to catch. So my opinions aside, there's clearly a difference in how they are presently handling Baez. Guess what I'm saying is if he's the answer there's been any of number of chances for them to call him up and they haven't yet. Why wait until literally the day prior to when playoff eligibility ends?
It's only a boost if he can hit? Thanks, Captain Obvious.

Baez was well on track to getting the callup before the unfortunate broken bone put him on the DL.
 

beckdawg

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It's only a boost if he can hit? Thanks, Captain Obvious.

Baez was well on track to getting the callup before the unfortunate broken bone put him on the DL.

Perhaps but he's been back in AAA for over a month(32 games to be precise). That's a fairly lengthy time to rehab if they felt he was ready for the majors. La Stella for example after returning to AA after re-injury spent 20 days in AA/AAA for 19 games(8/2 thru 8/22).
 

Parade_Rain

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Perhaps but he's been back in AAA for over a month(32 games to be precise). That's a fairly lengthy time to rehab if they felt he was ready for the majors. La Stella for example after returning to AA after re-injury spent 20 days in AA/AAA for 19 games(8/2 thru 8/22).
You're a one trick pony when it comes to Baez.
 

beckdawg

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You're a one trick pony when it comes to Baez.

Sorry... would you prefer I told you how he'd solve all the cubs problems to reinforce your beliefs? Call me crazy but I think throwing a player who has a history of k issues into a line up everyday that already leads the majors in K's isn't necessarily a recipe for success especially during a playoff push. Truth be told if they want to work him in to start next year I'd be perfectly fine with that. I just feel like what they need is more of a vet. bat to take some of the pressure off the rookies. That's why I'd prefer them to play Castro and hopefully get him going.

Additionally, it's not like Baez doesn't provide value off the bench. For one, he'd be a hell of a lot better than Herrera at a similar job. Also, being able to pick and choose match ups for him probably puts him in a better position to succeed. He had issues last year with pitcher pitching around him. You put him in when guys are on base and it's a lot harder to pitch around him and his power obviously could create a big inning if guys are on. He's a lot scarier as a pinch hitter than Herrera or La Stella would be and assuming you're double switching with him he's still likely to get 2 or so AB a day.
 

Parade_Rain

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Sorry... would you prefer I told you how he'd solve all the cubs problems to reinforce your beliefs? Call me crazy but I think throwing a player who has a history of k issues into a line up everyday that already leads the majors in K's isn't necessarily a recipe for success especially during a playoff push. Truth be told if they want to work him in to start next year I'd be perfectly fine with that. I just feel like what they need is more of a vet. bat to take some of the pressure off the rookies. That's why I'd prefer them to play Castro and hopefully get him going.

Additionally, it's not like Baez doesn't provide value off the bench. For one, he'd be a hell of a lot better than Herrera at a similar job. Also, being able to pick and choose match ups for him probably puts him in a better position to succeed. He had issues last year with pitcher pitching around him. You put him in when guys are on base and it's a lot harder to pitch around him and his power obviously could create a big inning if guys are on. He's a lot scarier as a pinch hitter than Herrera or La Stella would be and assuming you're double switching with him he's still likely to get 2 or so AB a day.
No one has suggested he "would solve all the Cubs problems", but you seem to get really butt hurt when someone calls you on your anti-anxiety bias. You can't even be honest about the LaStella callup. He's a LH bat. There are any number of reasons why they haven't called up Baez at this time, including but not limited to keeping the league guessing as to whether or not he has made adjustments and using him as a bigger trade chip in the off-season. It could be that they want to limit his exposure until the last minute so MLB teams don't have time to adjust until Soler is ready to go again.

We've all seen him in action and we've seen your bias in action. Did you see how many K's Bryant had the last few nights? So Baez couldn't play 3rd and K at the same rate?
 

chibears55

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Perhaps but he's been back in AAA for over a month(32 games to be precise). That's a fairly lengthy time to rehab if they felt he was ready for the majors. La Stella for example after returning to AA after re-injury spent 20 days in AA/AAA for 19 games(8/2 thru 8/22).
Baez wasnt called up because once he went through his bereavement, played, got hurt, and got back again. .
There was no where to play him everyday. ..

Even after they benched Castro, Maddon stayed with Cogs who was swinging a solid bat from left side and was key to their hot streak..

So, you can analyze it to death but bottom line is , he remained in Iowa because they weren't going to bump anyone who was already playing. . Plus who knows, maybe a whole season down in Iowa may end up being benificial for him as a player in the long run..

Now on how many AB he ends up with in September..
That going to depend on how he plays..

I think with Soler out and Castro most likely not in their future plans for 2016 now, baez will get the nod at 2B come Tuesday with Cogs in RF and will continue to get the nod as long as he plays well. mainly because, although he might be their 2Bmen in 2016, their still in a playoff race and need to keep winning.
 

CSF77

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Maddon already said Baez will be with the first wave. The 2 guys they signed will also for pinch running.

Baez will be used to give days off. Not to PH or surplant any one.

These guys are rookies and have never played into September. So yes they need to rotate them for the month
 

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Baez and Bonafacio combined to go 8 for 10 today. Baez had 4 singles, 1 RBI, no k's. Batting .320 now.
 

willycat

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Actually he is being called up tomorrow, September 1st but don't pop your champagne corks, since everyone on the 40 man is playoff eligible. Baez would have been called up much sooner, if it wasn't for the injury. Schwarber got the early call, only after Montero was injured. You really need to get your facts straight and find another subject, like maybe Maddon should be fired.
 

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Hope Arrieta brings his A game Bryant got him a cushion in the first. Pretty swing. 2-0
 

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Hope Arrieta brings his A game Bryant got him a cushion in the first. Pretty swing. 2-0
I actually don't find his swing to be all that pretty. It's nice to be 6'5" or so though.
 

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